Around late-2014 or so, I wanted to tackle the white-furred white-armoured charr trope with another new character, but my goal was to do it tastefully. No gaudy particle effects and absurd hairstyles; basically a sparklecat without the sparkles. I was also planning out a WvW zerg-spec elementalist, so that also provided some structure to backstory and design. I hit a roadblock after doing some research, however. Only two faces, to my eye, looked good with white fur: the female’s caracal-face and lynx-face. Problem was that both of them were already in use by Geldra the Reticent and Zasala Thunderbolt, respectively. I eventually went with the former, just because white-furred white-armoured lynx-face charr was way too deep into cliché territory. But then what background justification could I have with reusing a face?

I eventually came up with the idea of Geldra Vaporstep, who crossed over into Geldra R’s dimension through some shenanigans in the Mists. Following the disappearance of Kyra, this Geldra would abandon her warband, bleach her fur white, and enter the Mists in search of her departed sibling. V would eventually run into Geldra R's Kyra during one of the latter’s recreational trips commanding in the Mists. Finding her missing sister (in a way) after six years of searching, Geldra V would demand her new Kyra to be taken to her dimension.

A few weeks later, Heart of Thorns is announced January 2015, and the Revenant profession gets previewed. Literally my first though during the reveal was “…what if I made a third Geldra, but she was all grim and angry and edgy?” Man, that was a moronic idea. So I did it, and roughed out the backstory for Geldra the Typhoon. 15 years older, she saw plenty of action during the Mordremoth war – a conflict that Tyria was losing. Following the death of Kyra during a botched escort in the Maguuma Jungle, this Geldra would abandon her old mesmer doctrines and become a revenant. With defeat encroaching the shores of LA, a project between the Order of Whispers and Dessa sought to send Geldra T back in time, to warn the past and arm Tyria with knowledge about Mordremoth. Unusually, Geldra T was surprised by the presence of V – an event that never occurred in her timeline.

Of course, Geldra R is in the middle of this mess, and her usual quiet ruthlessness and emotional control is put to the test. Hard to manipulate someone who knows all your tricks, after all. V and T have little qualms messing with their ‘original’, even in the most indirect of ways. Here, T is giving off another old war story during another outing between the doppelgangers, while V listens intently.

Geldra Vaporstep, Geldra the Reticent, Geldra the Typhoon © me
Art ©  blackchaos666
GW2 and charr © ArenaNet